Lotophagoi
by The Voice in the Wilderness
Summary: Souichi must testify in a murder trial, but if Morinaga is the one accused, why is his sempai the one confessing? And who is behind the "Lotophagoi' killings?
1. Chapter 1

"What did you say to me?", Souichi Tatsumi was jarred abruptly from his thoughts by his little brother's elbow and the cabbie's cigarette-muffled call.

"Please get out of the car, guys – this is the place."

"What? What place? What are you talking about?"

"Sou-kun, this the courthouse; don't you remember, brother?'

"Uh.. Of course... I remember... Tomoe, pay the man." Souichi brusquely waved out the window he was glaring, trying to gird his mental loins for the oncoming battle... trying not to allow the waves of dread to drown him, here in broad, downtown daylight.

"You got a problem, gentlemen?"

"No, sir – it's just, well... his friend is on trial today...Lotophagoi killings...", Tomoe Kurokawa whispered to the concerned cab driver, trying to keep the man from thinking they were going to try to stiff him on their fare.

"What? That guy's _friend_ is the sick maniac on trial?", grunted the man at the wheel around a half-smoked fag with no little disgust.

"Tomoe! Shut your goddamn mouth...!"

"Sorry, Nii-san! I didn't mean to say too much again..."

"He is NOT my _friend_...!", Souichi Tatsumi hissed back, unfolding from the cab and tried to prepare for the worst before him, leaving his brother to deal with their transportation.

Souichi hated suits; he really, really did. Any thing that got him out of a lab coat and jeans was just a waste of his precious time. Now, waiting impatiently for Tomoe to hurry up with the banalities of this damn inconvenience, Souichi tugged uncomfortably on the black suit Tomoe insisted he'd buy AND wear today. The damn thing looked like something Kurokawa would wear, dammit! Fucking queers were ruining his goddamn life, Souichi swore to himself as he lit a nervous cigarette.

Somehow the wisp of brimstone from his match made him smile... then remembering where he was, what he was about to have to do and oh my god, what the fuck.. the smile disappeared from Souichi's lips like a fart in the wind. Tomoe's nervously nice voice drifted up to him on the fortress's mammoth steps, the granite surrounding them, dulling the chirping cadences from his brother's omnipresent sweetness, neutering all but the nervous energy from his words. The people with the cameras were starting to circle them...

"... I was saying, perhaps they won't call you, Nii-san..."

Souichi blew out his smoke and stubbing the fag out on the megalithic stone behind him, prepared himself for the worst.

"Tomoe – enough bullshit, already. Let's just go in and get this over with.", he said with leaden finality.

They weathered the media frenzy at the front of the court room. Souichi nearly got himself arrested for taking one man's camera strap and choking him with it when the vulture had the audacity to suggest that his role in the Lotophagoi killings might be far less than that of simple witness... perhaps he was himself an accomplice. Who hadn't heard Souichi Tatsumi's raging hatred of all thing homosexual in their circle of daily life? When Souichi, his jaws clenched in silent fury, had attempted to step around the man and dismiss him from his bespectacled sight, the asshole had suggested that maybe the accused and he had used the murders of those unsuspecting bar patrons as some kind of sick sexual fetish before they indulged in darker, more wicked sexual exploits?

It had taken three armed guards to get Souichi's hands from around the man's windpipe. The camera would never be the same and neither would the man's face. Tomoe had chosen wisely when he garbed his brother in black. The blood spatters didn't show up as well on black.

After the fiasco at the front doors, the police firmly escorted the Tatsumi brothers into the courtroom and once seated and diffused of violent tendencies with quiet threats of assault charges, Souichi was introduced once again to Morinaga's defense attorney... Kanako and Matsuda were there and after a quick nervous hug from his sister, Morinaga's sempai asked his sister for the use of her cellular... Morinaga's friend Hiroto... who had hired the wet-behind-the-ears lawyer when Tetsuhiro's family had again turned their backs on their own son..

… they all looked far too nervous, Tomoe thought to himself with a dry swallow. Would Morinaga even say a word in his defense. He and Kanako feared the worst for the steadfast Morinaga!

After a tense conversation, and a lot of bad noise, they finally saw the armed guards bring him in. Morinaga had looked worse, but not by much. Souichi was surprised at how small the tall man was trying to appear; his hands looked liked they were trying to shrink into his wrists, or was it just that the shackles rode his large frame like they weighed a thousand pounds each? Swimming in the bright garish orange of his correctional jumpsuit, Souichi couldn't believe that Morinaga had once had the strength to hold him down...

"Fuck fuck fuck!", Souichi clenched his jaw and swore to himself at his train of thought.

Morinaga's dark eyes rode over the crowd gathered for his judgment with little sign of life, until he caught sight of his sempai. Sums and figures twirled suddenly to life within the ebony depths of his reddened eyes. Words attempted to fall past his twitching, disbelieving lips and on the third time, Tetsuhiro Morinaga managed to finally say something. It'd been the first words he'd uttered since his arrest. His lawyer got the early sense that the less emotionally volatile Morinaga behaved, the easier it would have been to defend him... and the black depression of facing serial murder charges had sealed Morinaga's lips better than any legal advice ever could. Until now...

"Sempai, you came... oh my god, am I happy to see you...", the tall neon clad prisoner gasped in a voice thick from disuse.

"You look like shit, Morinaga." _My god, you look awful – your sad face is killing me, Morinaga._

Morinaga blinked and then gave his lover a watery smile. "I bet I do, Sempai – thank you for coming to see me off."

The despair was there, underneath the gratitude and the love. Anyone with ears could hear it. Souichi swallowed hard and glanced over at his brother nervously, thanking any god who was listening that the kid was talking to a woman next to him about what, he didn't care – so long as Tomoe had missed what Morinaga was really saying.

Wait – what he really was doing was saying goodbye! _Oh my god...I... I really am going to have to do this...!_

"Oi! You better just shut that shit up right now. You're not going anywhere but back to the lab – I'm tired of doing all your work!", Souichi snapped back, trying to hide his fear in his usual anger, slumping down in his seat and trying to look anywhere but at the chained man before him, everything about him pleading for release and some miracle of justice. Even Morinaga's clasped, shackled hands appeared be silently begging for help. Seeing him like this, Souichi could only petulantly turn his head away, but not his eyes – his sepia eyes refused to let Morinaga go.

The guard next to Morinaga put his hand on the teller man's shoulder and with that, things began to move very, very quickly. Before he knew it, Souichi was listening to a lawyer call his name to to the take the stand.

Gritting his teeth, Souichi knew what he had to do, he just didn't know if he could. He'd rather kiss Isogai's fucking filthy, sneaky ass in fact, then take the witness stand in a murder trial and then tell the entire court that his lover couldn't be guilty because on the night of the murders Morinaga was... _oh my god, why now! This cannot be happening!_

Souichi watched himself walk calmly to the stand, bow and be seated. He heard himself swear in. But he wasn't prepared to have the prosecutor be the one who was questioning him.

"Tatsumi Souichi, where were you on the evening of May 25th?", the prosecutor asked quietly.

"I worked at the university lab until 9 o'clock or so and then walked home.", Souichi stated as calmly as he could, his teeth clacking shut on the end of "home" - his voice was trying to die in his throat, dammit! Not yet, not until he could exonerate Morinaga! He must do this!

Finding his fists balled up tight, Souichi concentrated on trying to calm down and he did a pretty good job until Morinaga smiled that watery, sad smile at him again. Souichi fought the sudden urge to strangle both the attorney and Morinaga, before kicking one and kissing the other!

This was turning out to be the worst day of Tatsumi Souichi's life...

"Was Tetsuhiro Morinaga there when you got home? After all, you both are living together, correct?"

"No." Souichi bit out.

"No? Where was he then?", the prosecutor leaned against the jury box, looking conspiratorial.

"He'd left a note to say he was visiting the bar his friend Hiroto tended. I knew he'd go there occasionally to bitch and moan... I mean... blow off steam...", Souichi replied, forgetting at the last minute that his every word was being recorded for posterity and possible incrimination of the person in his life he held most dear...

… that person he'd most cheerfully murder once they got out of this and came up for air...

Souichi blushed at the thought of fighting a freedom-starved Morinaga for air as he was kissed, hard against the front door...

"Did you have a fight with the accused, sir? Maybe something else occurred – you appear to be blushing about your room-mate's bar-hopping on that night.", the inquisitor arched a sly eyebrow at the discomfited witness who tried not to fidget with his glasses and to regain his suddenly tenuous composure.

"Objection – leading the witness, Your Honor.", Morinaga's attorney piped up in Souichi's rescue – not a moment too soon. Souichi thought he was going to slap the man before him upside the head for what he was implying... and knowing it was very near the truth made the urge even madder! _I'm just going to blurt it all out myself in moment, so I don't need your fucking help to get there, asshole!_

"Sustained. Prosecutor – Mr. Tatsumi is not the one on trial here. Please continue in a more appropriate manner.", the judge cautioned through narrowed eyes.

"Withdrawn, Your Honor. What happened after you read Tetsuhiro Morinaga's note?", the curious lawyer resumed questioning, his arms folded carefully together in a casual manner, his body language encouraging Souichi to tell him all about that particular night.

"I needed his reports on our latest experiments and the asshole had conveniently not taken them out of his courier bag before going out– so I had to go and get them in order to finish my work.", Souichi ground out, emphasizing how inconvenient a trip to Hiroto's bar had been, forgetting that he was supposed to be here in Morinaga's defense...

"I mean, seriously, he knows how much I hate those people and then he forces me to come and hunt his stupid ass down in one of their creepy bars!", Souichi vented his choler, his voice a few more decibels than considered polite. The judge admonished him to lower his voice and the use of profanity in his subsequent testimony, thank you very much or would he care to pay a contempt of court fine?

The prosecutor smiled like a shark and Morinaga's lawyer turned just a few more shades of green. Tatsumi Souichi was a weapon that burned enemy and friend alike.

"So, you hate gay people I take it, Mr. .Tatsumi, how ironic. So does your friend, Morinaga...", the prosecutor grinned slyly.

"Objection!"

"Agreed. Prosecutor, I will not warn you again. Quit badgering the witness before he commits a crime."

"He doesn't hate anyone! Morinaga is the most foolishly optimistic, caring person I know. If he wasn't such a homo, he'd make some woman an ideal husband." Souichi snapped out before he could think about what he was saying and then blushed once again at his candor, however backhanded.

"Mr. Tatsumi, enough. Prosecutor, continue your questions please."

"Thank you, Your Honor. So tell me where you next saw Mr. Morinaga."

"He was at the Adamsite bar, exactly as he said he would be. Drinking it up with that fag Hiroto just like I knew he would be. They had some kind of new drink he and this guy were working on...


	2. Chapter 2

"_Oi – so this is where you should be instead of working? Dammit, Morinaga – I'll kill you for making me come to a gay bar looking for your ass!"_

"_Senpai! I can't believe you came looking for me? Were you worried? Sit down and have a drink with us!", Morinaga enthused, the color high in his cheeks from alcohol._

"_Like hell I was worried about you – I came for the toxicology reports!", Souichi glared back at his tipsy kouhai and his narrow-eyed friend, developing an instant dislike for the saccharine sweet laugh Hiroto uttered at his reasoning._

"_That's what I'm trying to say, Sempai – come try this new drink. I was telling Hiroto all about the plant and its effects and he thinks it would make a great specialty cocktail. Come try the base before we add the extract – it's really good!" Morinaga enthused, eyes crinkled in merriment, patting the barstool next to him in a friendly – too friendly – way._

"_Angel-kun, so this is your fabled Sempai. Nice and lean, with that gorgeous hair! I think I see why you persist.", Hiroto purred, giving Souichi the quick-head-to-toe assessment._

"_Fuck off, fag! Don't make me kill you.", Souichi growled low enough not to offend the entire bar while he grudgingly sat down next to his now-apologetic kouhai._

"_Sempai – you know it's just teasing! Please don't threaten my friends. We all know you don't swing that way.", Morinaga scolded, patting Souichi quickly on the back and pushing a half-full glass in his direction._

"_Sure we do.", Hiroto helpfully supplied, smiling with too many teeth. Deftly intercepting Morinaga as he attempted to pass Souichi his drink, the bartender dumped the old glass and quickly replaced it with a new one. It smelled like coffee... and Souichi was a sucker for coffee..._

_Morinaga watched as the love of his life first sniffed the cocktail then took a sip. Deciding the taste wasn't terrible, he took another. Then... after admitting that it was indeed quite drinkable...he took another..._

_Souichi could hear Morinaga discussing their current pharmacology project with his friend. Hiroto appeared politely interested and kept picking up the small pint bottle of golden liquid Morinaga had provided to get the drink going. The music in the bar began to get to him; the lights, soft as they were began to dance in time to the beat. It wasn't a loud bar, but somehow Souichi found himself wanting to get up and move... which confused him utterly, because the last thing Souichi Tatsumi had ever done or would ever do in his life was to dance at gay bar after one drink!_

"So this plant you were experimenting with in your studies had supposed medicinal effects and Tetsuhiro Morinaga and Souma Hiroto were planning on using it as an ingredient in a cocktail? What were you two gentlemen making in that lab?", the prosecutor interrupted, seemingly to himself.

"Yes.", Souichi said, glad to be able to stop talking, afraid of where the question might lead him. He could feel every pair of the jury's eyes crawling across his face with interest and it was not a good feeling at all. _Damn them for listening!_

"Relevancy, Your Honor?", the defense pled.

"I will allow it. Is this plant _Nymphea cerulea,_ Mr. Tatsumi?", the judge queried, looking hard at him over her glasses after consulting her depositions.

"Yes, ma'am. It has some very promising medicinal qualities. It was our senior project at the university.", Souichi answered as calmly as he was able, worried that he was going to have to discuss those medicinal and somewhat less respectable qualities in front of the entire court room... knowing he'd probably have to and actually doing it were two very different things!

"What exactly are those qualities, Mr. Tatsumi?", the prosecution cannily asked him – much to Souichi's discomfort.

"_The flower is amazing, Hiroto-kun! It's a narcotic pain killer and an antispasmodic in one chemical compound. Side effects are mild and well-tolerated by animal testing. The narcotic half-life is so short the intoxication phase is less than an hour but the muscle relaxant effects last for a day or more – and get this, this is the best part! _

"_The active compounds work like a synergist with alcohol but in such a mild way that we have yet to find a near-lethal rat dose – the poor rats get too drunk to even want to ingest enough nuciferine to overdose. It's like another promethazine – and even if it's not picked up for that, it could be the next sildenafil, eh? Our careers are going to be made, right Sempai?" Morinaga effused to the politely uninterested Hiroto, who was washing glasses to have something to do with his hands._

_Souichi was watching his kouhai's long fingers as the man avidly discussed the damn plant. The way Morinaga would bring his hand to the back of his neck as he was gesturing with the other, unconsciously stroking the fine hairs there – Souichi found he could feel Morinaga's fingers at the back of his own neck, massaging the tingling nerves that seem to shoot straight to his twitching cock... as he continued to watch, Morinaga's tongue seemed to poke out between words, wetting his lips for the lauds he was spewing at that bartender friend of his... that tongue, Souichi could feel it running wetly up his hard shaft, tasting him, owning everything that it touched..._

_Somehow the modal jazz seemed to have a throbbing undercurrent that was making Souichi's heart pound. Morinaga leaned forward on his perch and absentmindedly scratched his side, flashing his smoldering room-mate a peek at the hard, muscled flesh of his stomach... Souichi remembered the way those muscle bunched when Morinaga thrust himself slowly in and out of his ass, explosions of sensation going off behind his eyes every time he was slowly pounded by something deep within..._

"_Fuck, I have to piss – is it safe to use the bathroom in this place or am I going to get molested by one of you sickos?", growled Souichi around the ice in his empty glass, trying like hell to get a break from the craziness in his head! That was some drink...!_

"_Straight to the back. You shouldn't have any problems getting there; it's the only straight thing in this bar.", Hiroto helpfully supplied, teasing the elder student who blushed and gritted his teeth but said nothing. The bartender watched carefully as Morinaga's object of desire wobbled the slightest bit as he managed to disengage himself from the barstool._

"_I think I like your idea for a name, Angel-kun. Let's call it the Lotus Eater – or better yet, let's use your foreign label for it! The more exotic – the more money I can charge!", Hiroto suddenly enthused to Morinaga, who was finishing the last of his coffee-lotus flavored ice._

"_What - _Lotophagoi_? Weird, Hiroto... but whatever you want it is fine. I better go check on Senpai. I don't want anyone to get accidentally murdered because they ask him the time.", Morinaga shrugged and then made his way to the back of the bar with his casual beatific smile._

"_Yeah, we wouldn't want anyone to get hurt, would we?", Hiroto murmured to himself without a smile._

_Souichi was panting. _

_Sweating palms against the cool marble sink, he tried to get the thumping of his heart under control. What the hell was going on with his body? All he had to do was think of Morinaga's name and his mind would be assaulted by visions of that pervert doing all kinds of unspeakably... uncomfortably... hot, passionate things to him!_

_Normally alcohol didn't affect him like this, dammit! Suddenly, Souichi remembered Hiroto switching his taste-test with a new, fresh drink and the way he snuggled the bottle of lotus extract... it was the goddamn plant! His scientific sensibilities were peeved; human trials were nowhere near ready yet – there were too many unknowns for good, reliable data doing something like this – but, fuck!_

_That was some good shit, Souichi snarked to himself and reaching up to wipe sweaty hair out of his face, couldn't help licking one of his fingers in nebulous longing... thinking of something else tasty to put between his lips. He couldn't wait to tell Morinaga of these unforeseen aphrodisiac effects – he couldn't believe how turned on he was from one... small... drink...!_

"_Like fucking hell I would, too! That guy would get the wrong idea..", Souichi's echoed cursing booming like thunder in the empty bathroom._

"_What guy would get the wrong idea, Sempai? You can't possibly be talking about me?", Morinaga suddenly poked his dark head through the door with an easy smile, shocking Souichi into another fit of profane exclamation._

"_What do you want? Can't a guy get a little privacy – or did your perverted self come to peep? Get out all ready, you!" Souichi shooed his hands at Morinaga's reflection before him, cheeks on fire with surprise._

"_Privacy – what a fantastic idea.", Morinaga smiled hotly and slipping quickly into the small room, flicked the lock home._


	3. Chapter 3

_Souichi hated Morinaga right now; every time his face pressed against the mirror as his hips were pulled forward by the hands on his cock, he didn't understand how something so wrong could be so incredibly good, and not understanding something so basic made Souichi angry and worse, confused. There was no black and white here; it was all shades of gray! Morinaga's flushed, hungry lips were at the back of his neck, his throat, his ear – Christ! - and the threat of a hard standing fuck rose like a crimson sun in his deep eyes – Souichi could have lost himself watching the best hand job of his life... if only he could forget it was the tall, insistent man pressing him into the vanity that was giving to him..._

_Expertly, Morinaga stroked his sempai's raving cock; squeezing, teasing all the right places, just the right rhythm and soon Souichi was grinding his ass against the thick bulge Morinaga twisted against his ass with each maddeningly slow stroke – losing himself in the pleasure of being made to submit, being held fast – unable to get away from this unaccessible truth. He hated himself; he wasn't a fucking fag, so why did he want Morinaga to cut the fucking foreplay and just let him come screaming already...!_

"_Wha...what the fuck...?", Souichi mumbled thickly around his own cascading desire, amped by intoxication and pushed hard back against his kouhai, twisting out of his servicing hands. "Get the fuck off of me! What the hell are you doing to me?"_

"_But Sempai, you were really enjoying yourself; I just want to make you feel so good.", Morinaga moaned, adjusting himself through his jeans, giving his reluctant lover a smoldering, pleading look._

"_Well it doesn't feel good at all, getting attacked by a deviant in fag bar's bathroom! What the fuck are you thinking, Morinaga?", Souichi gasped out between heaving breaths._

"_Really, Sempai – well, when you want help with _that_, I'm all yours._", _Morinaga arched a disbelieving eyebrow and pointed at his Sempai's exposed, shamelessly slick meat. "I think I've had enough to drink tonight, wanna head for home?"_

"_It'll go away on its own now that someone isn't tormenting me! Give me five minutes to get my shit together before we leave this sin-pit.", Souichi growled, slowly diffusing his own desire in sarcasm, glad to have an out from this most sticky of situations!_

"_Five minutes? Sempai – you're not going to jack off without me, are you? No fair..."Morinaga's worried eyes asked openly, totally disarmed – totally vulnerable._

"_GET OUT BEFORE I FUCKING KILL YOU!", screamed Souichi, as he tucked himself away and aimed a sucker-punch at his lingering kouhai's stupid head._

"_-you're not off the hook, Sempai – not by a long-shot...", Morinaga whispered to himself on the other side of the bathroom door._

"So you and Mr. Morinaga left Adamsite about 10:30 pm, is this correct, after having a couple of drinks? Other witnesses state you and the accused were apparently arguing, nearly coming to blows.", the prosecutor asked levelly, leaning against his side's heavy desk.

"Uh... no we weren't. I mean, yes – that was about the correct time.", Souichi gulped, fidgeting with his glasses nervously. It was getting close and clearly, they were going to have to go there...

"How is it, then – if you say you both left at approximately 10:30, that the other patrons never saw you leaving the bar?", the prosecutor asked with disarming clarity. It was a sublimely simple question with a complex answer Souichi Tatsumi had dreaded all day...really, had dreaded since the beginning of this whole sordid mess.

Looking down at the floor, at his doomed kouhai's feet as a matter of fact, Souichi swallowed thickly. Gritting his teeth, he could feel a drop of sweat trickling between his shoulder blades. A murmur dropped from his lips to the cool tiled floor.

'What was that, Mr. Tatsumi? Let the jury hear what you have to say.", the inquisitor barked at him suddenly.

"Because we didn't go out the front door, that's why! I didn't want anyone to see me like that!", Souichi yelled back.

_His body was such a betrayer to his mind! When Hiroto saw them emerge from the dark alcove at the back of the bar, his eyes were startled – to say the very least. Morinaga had his hand protectively in the small of the pale, thin man's back before him, appearing to guide his flushed and – oh my god, erect! - sempai back to the bar. He hardly heard his friend's pressured goodbye and when Morinaga asked him if he could sneak out the back to spare a certain someone any possible embarrassment, he gladly agreed, pointing the way to the back exit with a grin. Hiroto thanked his friend for the extract and the bouquet of Blue Lily flowers Morinaga had brought to advertise the joint venture of cocktail creation. The bartender casually held a wide blue-tinged water lily to his nose and made plans for the sickly sweet smell oozing into his nose, his calculating brain..._

_Souichi needed to get the hell home and back to the locked security of his – straight – room. Pushing the steel door open into alley beyond, he nearly made it into the cool, calming night air before something unnatural happened – he could feel Morinaga's lust raging behind him, barely controlled and something within Souichi begged him to get home as fast as he could before he was caught out in the open with no escape. He nearly made it – except his still-tipsy feet betrayed him at the last possible second..._

_'Sempai, watch out!', Morinaga's warning caught his ear like a gunshot and as his tall kouhai reached out to steady his lover's shoulder, he missed – tangling his grasping hand in Souichi's long, thick hair and pulling the man back hard against his own heaving chest._

"_AH, so fucking good, Mori-!', Souichi hissed out, arching his back at the shrill sensation of having his hair pulled, his head pulled back – being caught without hope of escape..._

_Morinaga's hungry mouth was hard upon his own before the rest of the name could pass his lover's lips into the dark night, devouring any and all argument. Tripping momentum thrust both men into the willing darkness of the quiet alley beyond the bar._

_Someone had put a chair out with the trash and when Souichi managed to come up for air, he found himself straddling his predatory kouhai's lap... oh god, in public! So what if it was dark and they were in an empty alley behind a bar – it was still a public place, dammit! This was bad, so very bad...!_

_Morinaga saw his lover's sudden nervous realization and determined not to lose his chance to plunder the object of his desire then and there, spread his knees, sliding his now squirming Sempai to grind into him, cock to cock. Moaning into his sempai's long, disheveled hair, Morinaga rolled his hips as he kneaded the gorgeous ass riding his arousal with nearly-whimpering abandon. Souichi's head fell back at the insanity of the pleasure that his kouhai's filthy gyrations were building inside him. When Morinaga released one cheek of his ass to open his lover's fly, Souichi groaned onto the tongue licking hungrily at his mouth, his lips. When he felt that long-fingered hand, so hot and moist on his twitching meat, he threw his arms around Morinaga's broad back and leaned back, arching his need into that delicious hand._

"_Uh... stop... I don't want this here...ah, ahhhh...", Souichi ground out between slick thrusts and hard moans._

_Morinaga's deep eyes ate him up, threatened him with a hard ride, promised him unending pleasure. Disengaging himself his beloved's swollen lips, he spoke into Souichi's twitching, sensitive ear with a devious grin._

"_Yes, but you need it, don't you Sempai – right here." Grind, stroke, squeeze._

"_Ah! Bastard – what are you doing to me...?" Moan, nails scraping skin through thin cotton._

"_I'm making you mine, I'm taking you like a drug... making you come for me, Sempai...", licking down the straining, sweating throat, biting fragile skin and then sucking..._

_When Morinaga freed his own straining cock from its wet confinement, Souichi felt a stab of morbid excitement and as he watched his kouhaii slowly fellate a couple of his long fingers, he thought he'd go mad with anticipation andco-mingledd panic; where were those fingers going to go next? Surely... not there! Was he disappointed when the hand and its spit-slick fingers wrapped itself around both their shuddering organs and began to stroke – no, absolutely not! Souichi tried to shut out the incredible vision Morinaga made before him; smoldering eyes boring hard into his own blushing, needy face, those perfect and of-so-talented lips parted with each groaning puff of breath, his honorific dropping like a steady mantra from the undone man before him... the pleasure in his balls, his spine twisting like fire... so hard...! _

"_Sempai... tell me you want me to make you come...", Morinaga gasped between shuddering breaths, his strong arms holding Souichi captive, both his ass and his cock, squishing thickly in his lover's hand._

"_Wha...? Ngggh... mhmmm...!", Souichi moaned drunkenly, rocking in his kouhai's lap, trying to achieve Nirvana._

_'Tell me you want to come...otherwise, Sempai...ah god... I'll make this last all night...", Morinaga threatened with a sweaty grin, using his thumb against the most sensitive flesh with slow, excruciating pleasure._

"_Fucker...go... straight to...mmmhmm!...hell...", Souichi countered, trying to keep hold of himself as he began to slowly dissolve into spastic climax, groaning into Morinaga's quivering shoulder as he began to shoot, biting the hard flesh before him to choke off a strangled scream._

"_I'm there, Sempai and I love it!", Morinaga gasped out when he felt Souichi's teeth bite down and then was covering them both in a fresh coat of cream._

"What did you not want anyone to see, Mr. Tatsumi? What were you hiding the night those men were killed in that very same bar no one saw you or the accused leave! Who else had access to the flowers and who else could have made the gory tableaux of six murdered victims, their cold mouths filled by the same flower of your obsessive work! Was it you that wrote those foreign words, Mr. Tatsumi or was it Mr. Morinaga? Who was it if not him or even you! Tell the court, please, sir!", the prosecuting attorney thundered out in what he assumed would be the killing blow to any sort of defense Tetsuhiro Morinaga might have attempted using Souichi Tatsumi.

"I didn't want anyone to see me, dammit! I didn't want anyone to see how much I needed to FUCK the man sitting right there in those goddamn shackles! We left because I was trying to get away from the fact that Tetsuhiro Morinaga is my... motherfucking GODDAMN IT – my lover! There! Now you know, don't you! I even have proof that we weren't even in the bar past 10:36 pm. Here – take this thing before I fucking break it!", Souichi screamed like a fury, his voice cracking in exclamation, only to drop to a deadly whisper as he nearly threw Kanako's cellphone at the dumbstruck prosecutor.

"Sempai! Oh my god... Sempai...!", Tetsuhiro Morinaga softly swore in dumbstruck amazement at the true depth of his lover's feelings... "Couldn't you have found an easier way to confess?", his lips turned up in an apologetic smile full of full-blown love. He had been prepared to go to prison to keep his lover a secret, but now aside from being shocked, nervous and scared to death, Tetsuhiro Morinaga also felt loved... loved... thank god in heaven... loved!

"Sempai_, please don't be so mad! Ow!", Morinaga nearly wailed as his lover swung a shaky punch at his head and hit his upper arm instead._

"_Goddamn fucking perverted faggot – how dare you do this kind of thing to me...here...!", Souichi hissed in mortification and embarrassment, even as his long legs wobbled and he leaned on his steady – sweaty- kouhai for support. Leaning his head back over Morinaga's shoulder, Souichi concentrated on calming his thrumming body so he could hurry up and get the hell home, crawl into his bed and try to make sense of what had just happened... again!_

_Morinaga looked down at his panting, beautiful sempai whose challenging sepia eyes drifted closed even as his head drifted back by the exhausted weight of his gorgeous hair. Souichi didn't remember to be furious until they had been kissing in front of the bar for long enough to have a shocked but happy girl in Kanako's class to take their picture as she passed them by... the bar's outdoor calendar in plain sight behind their entwined forms._

"I am declaring a 20 minute recess to process the new and most unexpected piece of evidence. Miss Kanako Tatsumi, Mr. Tatsumi and consul will meet in my chambers in 5 minutes. Mr. Tatsumi – please collect yourself and refrain once again from disrupting my court; your sense of drama is infuriating. Court will resume in 20 minutes.', the judge declaimed, shaking her head slightly, fixing Souichi with a steely eye which he ignored in his utter mortification. Everyone else was so shocked it took a few moments to realize the whole trial had just taken a turn from bad to down-right crazy. Souichi Tatsumi's only thought was that his fucking head was going to explode.

"Yes, ma'am – My friend Yuri Kuusanagi was coming home from a group movie when she saw, uh... that moment in front of that place..."

"Kanako, just what are you implying!", Souichi needled, quickly scrambling to his feet before a small office full of court personnel.

"Nii-san, what are you doing at this late hour? Do you want your most special person to leave you forever? What is wrong with liking someone who loves you so much?", Kanako shot back with uncharacteristic authority, making her older brother cringe and blush to the roots of his mostly subdued hair.

"Mr. Tatsumi – please deal with your insecurities on your own time, not mine. Sit down – now. Consul, can you provide proof this photo is genuine and unaltered?"

"The cellular provider and mail client can provide authentication in a matter of minutes with a few calls.", the defense attorney replied, all business and cool assuredness.

The prosecutor was still looking at the small screen's amazing picture; he could tell it was really them. He could see Tatsumi's need as he clung to the accused with subconscious longing... the level of denial in the older college student was off the charts, he swore to himself and... then... he noticed something else...

"The defense is encouraged to have this photo enlarged and submitted to the authorities for further review.", the frowning professional deadpanned. 'We will drop all charges once the photograph is authenticated and the alibi is assured."

"What – why? What are you looking at?", the greenhorn defender, shocked out of his self-confident demeanor cut over the judge's large imposing desk to try and snag a better view of the tiny screen...

"Mr. Tatsumi, can you please tell me who that is in the bar window to the left of the notice board?", the unhappy prosecutor asked Souichi, handing him the phone and studying his nervous face for tells.

Souichi turned the phone in the light, adjusted his spectacles and squinted for a long moment.

"Who is it, Nii-san?", Kanako's high voice brought him out of his pale-faced shock, allowing Morinaga's sempai to find his voice again.

'It's Hiroto and I believe that's blood on his face."

Even the judge looked amazed, her glasses falling down her nose as her mouth dropped open. Morinaga was free. It had already been decided. Now they just had to work out the details.

The 1 hour and 31 minutes Souichi Tatsumi waited in a too-quiet office while the prosecution and the defense ascertained the reality of Kanako's bombshell photograph were some of the longest, most painfully slow moments of his life. Outside his lonely room, the tumult of Hiroto's arrest and screaming denials filtered in like waves on a lonely sea and Morinaga's senpai was cast adrift on it... looking for rescue in each passing wave of muffled sound.

The fact that flashes of Morinaga's hungry kiss, his eager hands and tongue that night kept intruding on his quiet sequestration did nothing good at all for Souichi's state of mind. When he gasped at the remembered silken feel of his lover's – might as well get used to it now! - fingers on his newly awoken cock, Souichi snarled at stupid fate and put his foot through a chair. He hoped he could get away from that judge before she caught sight of the damage...!

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and putting his head down on the table before him, Souichi let the pain, frustration, longing and yes, even relief come slowly from his eyes and his heaving chest. Taking his glasses off to spare himself the bleary smears on the fragile round lenses, a sudden voice caught him by effortless surprise, like it always did in its endless understanding and love.

"I'm sorry Sempai, did you have to wait long for me?", Morinaga asked quietly, stroking a shaking but unshackled hand across his sempai's bowed head.


End file.
